Pair skaters don't look back

Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - A year ago they were competitors innocently thrust into the vortex of an Olympic figure skating scandal that exposed the seamy side of their sequins-and-satin sport. Now Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier have banished judges from their lives, and they say it's forever.

Sale and Pelletier turned professional last year after the Salt Lake Winter Games, where they were named pairs co-champions with Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze after French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne claimed she was pressured to favor the Russians. Sale and Pelletier say there's no going back.

"We were like, why do we want to keep competing anymore?" said Sale, who will perform with Pelletier and several other top skaters Wednesday night in the Smuckers Stars on Ice at the Pepsi Center. "We don't need to be in front of judges anymore. We feel very content with how much we've done in the amateur world, and we're ready to just entertain now."

Sale said she and Pelletier decided when they became a pair in 1998 that they would not compete beyond the 2002 Olympics.

"We made a four-year plan," Sale said. "We said to each other, 'We're not 20 years old anymore, we need to start thinking about our future career, and if we do well at the Olympics we might want to consider turning professional and doing the tour thing.'

"We always wanted to leave the amateur sport on a high, skating well. We figured there was no better time to turn professional. It was a big bang we left with, and we're very happy with that."

Pelletier is equally adamant about leaving competitive figure skating behind.

"We are finished," Pelletier said. "It's either black or white for us. We did what we had to do in the amateur world and we never look back. We always look forward."

Figure skating aficionados were shocked when judges awarded the Russian pair the gold medal in Salt Lake City on a 5-4 vote and the Canadians the silver. After rumors of backroom deals began to circulate, the International Figure Skating Union decided to give the Canadians gold medals as well.

The Russian pair also is touring with Stars on Ice. Sale and Pelletier say there is no animosity between the former rivals.

"Definitely not," Sale said. "We were always friends. Everybody is out there to win, so we obviously had that game face on all the time. Now that we get to tour together with Smuckers Stars on Ice, we're extremely happy to be together. It makes the tour stronger, along with all the other Olympic champions and world champions. We're having a great time with them."

Pelletier said he has known the Russian pair for 10 years and considers them great friends.

"One day I got up and we were 'enemies,"' Pelletier said. "I always thought that was funny. When we go to competitions we have our game face on, and after we're done, we're done. Now we get to share bus trips and road trips together, we share the ice together. We have a special chemistry and it's been great."

Last summer Sale and Pelletier decompressed from the Olympics pressure-cooker and then got geared up for the grueling 61-show Stars on Ice tour. After the U.S. tour is finished, there will be another 11 shows in Canada.